Genesis 33:1 Commentary and Bible Study

Esau now arrives with the four hundred men. He has already met with the droves of animals, Jacob’s gifts to him, which have been sent ahead, but only now does he reach the main party. He is still a little way off, but Jacob can see him approaching and arranges the wives with their children in an order that reflects their importance to him. He is still fearful that Esau may wish to do them harm. He puts the maids at the front, then Leah, and right at the back he places Rachel and Joseph, his favourites still. Although he is afraid, Jacob confronts his fears and goes ahead to meet Esau, determined to find out the mood of his brother. It is twenty years since he last saw him, and yet he knows his brothers’ capacity for revenge and for holding a grudge. But Jacob has the Lord’s promise and his faith is strong. He has prayed earnestly and the Lord has assured him that he will protect him and that his seed will be as the sand of the sea. He therefore approaches Esau with hope. His behaviour and his language are very deferential and so is that of the wives and children, who have evidently been instructed to treat Esau with the utmost respect. Here is a man whose behaviour is unpredictable and no one in Jacob’s party not must do anything to antagonise Esau. Jacob bows down seven times to his brother in an exaggerated display of submission, but one which no doubt, Esau was looking for and appreciated. Jacob wants to convince Esau that he is a changed man and Esau appears to accept this. But Jacob is also a changed man, and his reverence to his brother comes from his reverence before God, so that his whole life is now conducted in the presence of God. Esau, we have already been told (Genesis 32:3), has moved away from Isaac and established himself in the area of Mount Seir, territory originally held by the Horites who were dispossessed by the descendants of Esau, the Edomites (Deuteronomy 2:4-5). Both because Jacob needs to settle matter with Esau – whose anger was the principal reason why he had gone to Haran twenty years before – and because Esau was a significant power in the region, Jacob has taken pains to meet with his brother.God’s overruling is made clear by Esau’s friendly reception, and the meeting is full of good will, and runs to meet Jacob. Calvin comments, ‘By this method, God proved that he has the hearts of men in his hand, to soften their hardness … Wherefore, if at any time the threats of enemies alarm us, let us learn to resort to this sacred anchor.’ Esau who seems to have a sentimental streak is very emotional about Jacob’s coming home, and greets him as the long-lost brother he is. Seeing the children and their mothers, he asks about them. He appears to have had no news whatsoever about Jacob’s circumstances, though he has been informed of the approach of Jacob’s party. In spite of Esau’s friendliness, Jacob takes no chances, and the wives and children continue to bow down to Esau as to some great one – which in political terms he was. Jacob knows what fallen human nature is and how quickly a proud man can be inflamed when the smallest thing goes wrong, and how he can easily misinterpret a simple act. Although in the plan of God Jacob is the favoured one and Esau is rejected, Jacob must do nothing to presume on his God-given status before his brother. That has already been a bone of contention between them in the past.